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Deflation in Grapes of Wrath

In this clip, a dust bowl farmer explains to Tom Joad, who just got out of jail, how it happened that over 100 people were kicked off of their land. The economic explanation is that the Great Depression happened. Farmers owned mortgages to bankers. Deflation allowed bankers to extract much more value than the dollar amount on the mortgage slip would have allowed. Farmers couldn't afford to pay it, so they were kicked off of their land while bankers made a killing.

This is relevant to several debates, including: Should the Federal Reserve target zero-inflation? Should we have a federal reserve?

It's also worth noting that this film was one of few Western films that was shown in Communist Russia. It was intended to be anti-capitalist propaganda. The ruling class had hoped that the people would learn about the awful things that could happen under capitalism. However, when people were surveyed, it was found that Russians were impressed that the Joad's were able to escape poverty by car. The film had the opposite of the intended effect!

The Watchmen is morbid, adult comic book story. Masked vigilante heroes cohere and form the Watchmen. They become corrupt and disband. The movie begins when one of the masked men finds out that someone is systematically killing former Watchmen.